Tim Walz and Texas Democrats ask voters: Where is your congressman?

HOUSTON (CN) — In the latest stop of his town hall tour through GOP-held districts, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz visited Rosenberg, Texas, on Thursday, answering voters’ questions about their anxieties and priorities.

“I heard the primal scream of Americans saying ‘Goddamnit, do something about this!’” Walz told the crowd at the end of his speech before taking questions. “I’m asking you to think about this as you’re sitting here. What does ‘something’ look like? What do you want to see?”

Speaking at the Fort Bend County Fairgrounds, in the suburban heart of Texas’s 22nd Congressional District roughly 40 miles from Houston, Walz expressed some sorrow and soul-searching to the crowd.

“I’m out here doing this because if we’d have won in November, we wouldn’t be in this goddamn mess, and that’s on me. I’ll own it, but we’re not going to quit. We weren’t running to win an election," he said.

In the face of strong public backlash from even their own voters, due in large part to sweeping cuts to the federal workforce, Republican leaders have been instructed not to hold in-person town halls. Following the move, some prominent national Democrats have begun holding town halls and rallies in these Republican-held districts.

The local host of the event, Fort Bend County Commissioner Dexter McCoy, a Democrat representing Fort Bend County’s 4th precinct, called out U.S. Representative Troy Nehls, the three-term incumbent for the 22nd district, for not hosting any town halls in his time in Congress.

“Even though ‘No-Show Nehls’ ain’t here today, we’re gonna give him another opportunity. April 14 at 6 p.m., we’ll take care of the logistics, meet me at the county courthouse in Richmond. We’ll have a seat set up for Nehls. When we asked him to come out today, he had no time. But he had time to make a video to call us losers," McCoy said, referencing the date he intends to hold an “empty seat” town hall in place of Nehls.

Former El Paso representative Beto O’Rourke also joined Walz Thursday in answering questions from locals on topics like voting rights, education, federal funding, and what actions to take.

“Our great-grandchildren will ask, ‘What did the people of America in 2025 do?’ The line in the sand has been drawn,” O’Rourke told the crowd. “It’s clear what we are up against. While you’re trying to be bipartisan, they’re killing your fucking country. You either fight or you surrender, and I plan on fighting.”

O’Rourke chastised the governor of Texas in his introduction of Walz.

“Greg Abbott, I know you’re watching. Let us show you what a real governor looks like. While Abbott is signing the worst abortion ban in this country, Walz is signing bills expanding access. Tim Walz is standing behind public educators and expanding public education," O’Rourke said.

In a statement Friday, Nehls called the event “nothing but a stunt.”

“Tim Walz was rejected by the American people and the state of Texas in November. His remarks last night made it clear that he still doesn’t understand why he and Kamala lost. Beto O’Rourke is a three-time loser who nobody wants to represent them. They’re both radical leftists who are out of touch with what the majority of Americans want," Nehls said.

While the “Fight Oligarchy” tour run by Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has taken up much of the public spotlight, Walz’s own tour has garnered plenty of its own attention. A similar event in Walz’s own state drew more than 1,000 attendees over the weekend.